New Zealand Sothebys International Realty was founded in 2005 and is associated with the world’s leading premium residential real estate company. However, nearly 20 years on, its digital experience in NZ was outdated and did not portray the premium experience that its customers expected.
In a competitive market, the website presented an opportunity to capitalise on new technology to keep ahead or at least keep up with other real estate companies and to showcase the premium brand of Sotheby’s.
Behind the scenes, there was also a need to embrace digital technology more seamlessly to optimise business performance, integrate into existing systems, ensure flexibility and scalability, and ensure the website can be easily kept up to date by an in-house team within a CMS system.
Big On Writing was approached as it was identified that there was a need for a digital specialist resource to help the business understand what digital channels could do for them and to plan a roadmap for implementation.
BOW worked with NZSIR to guide the digital strategy – clearly identifying objectives, an ROI model and a digital framework to allow internal stakeholders to come on the journey.
We then provided digital guidance to enable Phase 1 (a new website integrated with the existing CRM) to be created. This involved a digital content strategy, guiding the selection of a technical partner, IA and UX input, SEO and content guidance and a Tone of Voice that recognised an iconic international tone, yet incorporated a New Zealand feel.
A live website that portrays the premium brand experience. Within six months of launch, online enquiries shot up by over 100%, increased engagement and positive customer feedback.
